For 2023, consider making some adjustments for your family.
I often say that one of the simple ways to measure the success of your family is to have a regular family meeting.
What does a regular family meeting look like? Here’s a short and simple agenda:
6 generations of business success.
We tend to not think like that. In America, often the mantra has been build to sell—not build to hold, or build for purpose.
What’s the purpose of family?
When I ask that question at the beginning of The Power of Your Family Legacy workshop, the answers are many and varied.
Building great family culture starts with stories.
Brad Grey of Walking the Text teaches a simple truth: in Jewish families, from birth to about age 5, parents sought to taught their children two things.
I was at a conference not long ago speaking about the subject of family. It was surprising about the number of families that were struggling. The dream of a warm, happy family had faded into the reality of division and disconnect.
One of the prevailing questions was how do I build a great family culture?
We tend to not think about idea of family culture. The culture word is usually focused on businesses or organizations. How do you build great culture inside of organizations?
I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions.
But I am a big believer in studying the past to make plans for the future. Perhaps you’ve heard the quote: The unexamined life is not worth living.
Christmas—it’s more than a manger. It’s more than a spot in time. It’s more than a Christmas card. It’s more than the spotlight in a Christmas play. It’s more than hymns, shopping, hot cocoa, shiny presents, stockings and trees. Indeed, it’s far more than just a manger.
It’s about God’s divine drama. He created a beautiful world. He desired for us to be in relationship with him. He gave us purpose and meaning. But our own rebellious nature led to a break in the relationship. And the rest of the story drives toward how a loving God seeks to restore the brokenness. A relentless love. A love that doesn’t make sense.
In Part I of this series, we looked at the all too perfect Christmas play that focuses on the moment of the manger. The moment of the manger is where all gather in perfect harmony—Joseph, Mary, shepherds, wisemen, and a porcelain baby wrapped in a fleece blanket.
But we interrupted that idyllic setting to remind ourselves that the manger scene is really the story of the struggle of one family: Abraham, and the promise that through his family, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
I’m sure you’ve seen it —whether on Christmas cards or the annual Christmas play.
There’s Mary, the tender young girl, perhaps with the pillow stuffed under a lavender dress made of the finest linen sheets. Then there’s Joseph, a young man struggling, pulling an all too stubborn donkey. Joseph’s pleas for a place to stay are met with the too blunt edict: there’s no room in the inn.
But at last, a manger.
What is family culture?
Webster’s Dictionary defines culture as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.”
Walter Rodney in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa said it this way:
“A culture is a total way of life…”
